LONE TREE BOYS BASKETBALL

Lions roar into new year with road win against Midland

Adam Knock leads Lions with 15 points in nonconference battle in Wyoming

By Paul D. Bowker
Posted 1/4/22

WYOMING

Lone Tree made its early statement in the first four minutes of Monday night’s boys basketball game against Midland.

The Lions scored nine of the game’s first 11 points. …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in
LONE TREE BOYS BASKETBALL

Lions roar into new year with road win against Midland

Adam Knock leads Lions with 15 points in nonconference battle in Wyoming

Posted

WYOMING

Lone Tree made its early statement in the first four minutes of Monday night’s boys basketball game against Midland.

The Lions scored nine of the game’s first 11 points. Senior guard Adam Knock hit the first of his 3-pointers. Midland sophomore center Matt Sauer was on the bench with two fouls.

The final statement came much later, with 9.8 seconds left in the game, when Knock drilled two free throws to finish off the Lions’ 50-46 victory and his teammates jumped off the bench to celebrate.

The win was the first on the road for the Lions (3-6) this year.

“Saw some really good things. I’ve seen us getting better over the holidays,” Lone Tree head coach Tom Squiers said. “I thought, poise-wise, we played with some poise down the stretch. We didn’t get rattled when they made some runs at us. We made some shots.”

Knock led Lone Tree with 15 points.

“He’s steady. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes with the basketball,” Squiers said. “He’s an opportunity shooter. He takes advantage of the opportunity he gets when he’s open.”

Lone Tree seniors Cade Shield and Cade Patterson each had 9 points. Junior forward Michael Koedam added 8 points.

After falling behind 9-2, Midland (3-6) fought back and took a 25-23 lead at halftime. The game evolved into an end-to-end showdown after that.

Shield scored five points, including a 3-pointer, in a 10-3 Lone Tree run in the fourth quarter that gave the Lions a 47-40 lead with under a minute to play.

But the Eagles weren’t done. Sophomore guard Cale Crist hit two 3-pointers in the final minute, the first one trimming Lone Tree’s lead to 47-43 and the second one making it 48-46 with 11 seconds left.

Junior guard Zain Sauer led Midland with 19 points, hitting a 3-pointer in the final minute of the first half for the Eagles’ first lead and hitting another 3-pointer early in the final quarter to tie the score at 37. His last points came on a 3-pointer with 2:42 left.

“That number 23 [Sauer] can shoot it,” Squiers said. “I’m not saying we did a great job on him defensively, but we held him in check the last minute, which is what we needed to do.”

Lone Tree, basketball, Midland